Headline
by AtomicJellyFish
Summary: Hard work, check. Late hours, check. Having your best friend and the resident Plaid-Wearing-Farmer-John cheat you out of a front page headline, check. Lois loses the front page exclusive, and Clark tells her the truth about himself.


Authors Note: Busy life, essentially, has led me to stall temporarily on Konnor. It is something that I hope to finish soon, before any more similar fictions make their appearance. This little story came to me while I was down south taking care of my nephew and niece. My nephew, who is a little Superman fanatic, was watching the animated series while I took care of his sister. Later I went on to YouTube, replayed it a few times, and forged a Smallville version of it.

* * *

**_Daily Planet_**

**_Metropolis_**

**_1:03 PM  
_**

'I'm going to kill him' Lois Lane thought as she stepped off the elevator with a news paper clutched in one hand. It was this morning's issue, and she was beyond pissed at the front page head line. She had, just a moment ago, been in Ms. Mercer's office, ranting about how her article on Metropolis' new maglev got bump to the second page. Lois had spent almost a week working on the article, interviewing everyone from the maglev operators, the station controllers, and even Bruce Wayne, the man who helped fund it.

But it got bumped.

Ms, Mercer's response had been simple, "Try harder next time."

'Try harder!?' Lois fumed at the very thought. This was high class material, even the soon-to-be-dead Clark Kent had given her his praise at the skill with which it was written. But then that pesky (wonderful) little (big) farm boy (city man) pull this dirty little move, and cheats her out of a front page exclusive.

Poor Jimmy happened to be in the way at that very moment, "Lois! Lois!" he got rudely bumped by some other reporter and dropped all of his photos on the ground, "Wait! I have a picture of the Red and Blue Blur that you might want to see!"

"It can wait, Jimmy!" Not even Lois's desire to land an interview with the hidden savior of Metropolis could cool down her overheating jets. She was out for blood, and Mr. Innocent Boy Scout was going down.

Lucky for Lois, Clark was sitting at his desk, typing along as if nothing had happened. She, for only 0.002 seconds, relaxed for a moment to admire this man. He sat there; wearing a white button-up shirt with its sleeves rolled up and tie loose. His hands moved efficiently over the key-board, writing up another story to submit this afternoon. Clark did move his right hand, just for a moment, to push his quasi-dorky glasses up his nose, before resuming.

Yep, even though he had just jacked a front page exclusive from her, Lois had to take that 0.002 seconds to admire him. Even the new glasses, which he had only just gotten a few weeks ago, gave him the air of a man with a mission. It seemed, at times, that the man she had known as the plaid farmer had disappeared. Secretly, Lois adored everything about him, including his new look.

But then the anger came back.

With a huff, she continued her walk right up to the busy reporter and slammed the newspaper with the articles' title facing up.

_S.T.A.R. Labs and Wayne Tech Form Research Pact_

She sat on his desk, facing him, with the news paper in between them. Clark stopped his typing and looked into his co-workers eyes questioningly.

"I'm confused, Kent." Lois started, crossing a leg over the other while looking at Clark, "See, I've been working at the Daily Planet longer than you, and I can't figure out how some yokel from Smallville is suddenly getting every hot story in town…"

She leaned back, glaring at Clark with an accusing look on her face and an eyebrow raised.

Clark raised his eyebrow in response, before leaning forward as if to tell her some big secret. He looks left and right before pulling down his new glasses and motioning for her to come closer with his pointer finger.

"Well, Lois, the truth is I'm actually the Red and Blue Blur in disguise and I only pretend to be a journalist in order to hear about disasters as then happen and then squeeze you outta the by-line." He leaned back with his hands behind his head in a relaxing matter.

If Lois could shoot heat from her eyes, the entire Daily Plant would have gone up in a hellish inferno. She wanted to make him squirm, apologize, and convince her that she was the better reporter, not make some half-assed joke out of it.

She simply pointed at him and said "You're a sick man, Kent."

He smiled, "You asked."

Lois rolled her eyes, "Smallville, you knew how long I had been working on that article, in yet you swoop along and take all the glory out from underneath me."

Clark sighed, leaned forward, and saved the work on his computer. He pushed his glasses up his nose again, which made Lois adore him once again, and looked down at his watch.

"How about this," he started as he stood up, "I will take you out to lunch today, on me."

Lois hopped off his desk, and started "Don't think that buying me food is going to make me-"

Clark cut her off, "And I will take you to see the Metropolis Meteors this weekend. It's supposed to be the biggest game of the season between the MM's and the Red Sox, as Steve Lombard had been proclaiming earlier this morning."

Lois's angry exterior immediately disappeared and the happy and slightly giddy Lois took its place. "You sure know the way to make a city girl happy, you know, for being a farmer john and all."

"I feel bad, plus I think I need to spend more time with my best friend." Clark responded, with a friendly smile.

"Oh, so we are best friends now?" Lois asked, with a hint of a smile, "Alright, Smallville, I think I can live with that… as long as you take me to a good old American burger-joint." She punched him in the arm, and turned towards the elevator.

With a chuckle, Clark followed her towards the elevator.

'I can't live with out him,' Lois thought, as she stepped into the elevator with her partner, secret desire, and best friend.


End file.
